


When You're Ready

by Kalira



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Gen, Kakashi Week, Kakashi Week 2020, Pack, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25939492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira
Summary: Everyone may carry a soulmate mark, but the question of a bond is a heavy one to consider. Kakashi has hard-earned perspective on it, and offers his apprentice some reassuring advice on the matter that steers her well.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura/Rock Lee, Hatake Kakashi & Maito Gai | Might Guy
Comments: 16
Kudos: 141
Collections: Dog Sensei & Sparklepuppy, Kakashi Week 2020, Kalira's Kakashi Week Stories (2020)





	When You're Ready

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Kakashi Week](https://kakashiweek.tumblr.com/post/623757588975190016/kakashi-week-2020-prompts), Day 1: Soulmate AU

Kakashi rumbled, low in his throat, and walked up behind his pup where she sat, curled over her left arm, right hand over her wrist. He patted her hair. “Stop rubbing at it, pup. It’ll show up when it shows up.” he advised, gently.

Sakura jumped, fingers curling around her wrist as she looked up. Kakashi cocked his head, smiling at her, and some of the tension eased. “Hello, Kakashi-sensei.”

“Hello, pup.” Kakashi returned, amused, and ruffled her hair lightly. Not enough to muss it. Much. “Your soulmark,” he added, “stop fussing with it. It comes when-”

“Oh. No, I-” Sakura pinked. “I have my mark.”

Kakashi’s brows rose, and Sakura fidgeted. He crouched beside her as she rubbed at her wrist a little. “It’s already changed.” she said quietly.

“Ah.” Kakashi eyed her carefully. “Well, I understand that, too.” he offered quietly.

Sakura raised her head again, eyes wide. “You- Really, sensei?”

Kakashi stifled amusement. Sakura’s thoughts were clearly racing behind those sharp green eyes. Trying to figure who his soulmate was, no doubt. Wondering if they were among those he had lost would probably soon follow, he thought wryly.

“Once,” Kakashi said, “I had a red-crowned crane against a sunrise, here.” He tapped his wrist, and watched Sakura’s face as she absorbed this. “I was definitely not prepared for it when the crane became a name. It took . . . some time for me to be ready to face it.”

Sakura’s shoulders lowered a little and she sighed softly.

“Bearing a name is no more a demand than bearing the mark that comes before, pup,” Kakashi assured her gently, “and no more a sign that you’re ready for your soulmate or what may be between you.”

Sakura smiled at him. “I. . . Thank you, sensei.” She rubbed at her wrist again, but this time her posture didn’t tense. She glanced at his own wrist, hidden behind his glove, but didn’t ask. Kakashi had suspected she wouldn’t; she was for the most part a carefully respectful, mannerly pup.

He shifted, crossing his legs, and tugged his glove off, offering his hand to her.

Sakura brightened, both her small, callused hands wrapping around his as she tilted it carefully, looking at his wrist. She stilled. “Ah- Kakashi-sensei?”

“People also,” Kakashi said carefully, allowing her to keep hold of his hand, showing the deep green kanji on his wrist openly, “love telling dramatic tales of sweeping romance and adventure.” he said dryly, and smothered a giggle when Sakura gave him a dubious look; he did enjoy his dramatic romances himself - _he_ just remembered they weren’t reality. Thank fuck, he thought, because what made for wonderful enjoyable fiction would be a horror if he had it in his life. “Not to mention tragedy - parted lovers, star-crossed soulmates, death and revenge. . .”

“Because people like those stories . . . and not because it’s real?” Sakura guessed.

“They can be.” Kakashi said, and hesitated, stifling a whine. “It is not the only path, however . . . and a soulmate bond can be many things.”

“Like,” Sakura giggled, “being _Eternal Rivals_?”

Kakashi snorted. “Exactly like.” he agreed fondly, gently tugging at a lock of her hair. “I wasn’t prepared for that for . . . some time after my mark changed, however. And you don’t have to be ready right now for whatever _your_ bond with your soulmate may be, just because you bear their name.”

Sakura nodded, biting her lip as she slowly turned her own hand upwards. Kakashi met her gaze, questioning, and she sighed, nodding again. Kakashi looked.

“He introduced himself on the first day of the Chuunin Exams.” Sakura said softly as Kakashi blinked at the name she bore. “I was so shocked. . . I haven’t said my name, though. I don’t think. . . I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know. Yet.”

Kakashi met her gaze again. She fidgeted. “Is that awful of me?” she asked in a tiny voice.

Kakashi immediately pulled her in close and she shuddered, curling up. He nuzzled the top of her head, then propped his chin on it. “No, pup. It’s not awful.” He privately thought it was rather understandable. Gai’s little mimic duckling wasn’t precisely like Gai himself had been - particularly not when he was young - but he _was_ , as Gai had been, a little . . . much, sometimes.

Sakura had no doubt been entirely unprepared for him when they first met. Kakashi doubted, again much like Gai himself, that anyone was quite prepared for him.

“Tell him your name when you’re ready. No one can ask more than that.” Kakashi soothed as Sakura shivered, feeling her hands curl into his flak vest.

“It’ll happen when it happens?” Sakura suggested softly, and Kakashi kissed the top of her head through his mask.

“Don’t fret.” Kakashi advised, and Sakura sighed, nodding. Kakashi hugged her gently, then patted her back. “Ready to show me your progress?” he asked after a few minutes, and Sakura leaned back, bouncing to her feet with a grin. Kakashi didn’t _like_ leaving his apprentice to her own devices, but at least at this point she was confident that he would always return to collect her again when he could, and she set to work with a will while waiting. Kakashi _was_ sometimes called in, still, for missions which no genin - even one classed as his apprentice - could be brought along on.

“Yah, Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura said enthusiastically, and he smiled as he tugged his glove back on, then gestured for her to begin.

* * *

“How,” Kakashi asked into the silence without moving or opening his eye, “did _I_ become someone who gives advice on soulmates and marks?”

There was no response for a moment, and then a warm hand slid over his stomach, patting lightly. “I believe perhaps when it became known you had a cemented soulmate bond?”

Kakashi huffed, opening his eye to pout at his soulmate more pointedly. He had been ignoring that.

“Also,” Gai said brightly, “you are a _sensei_ , Kakashi.”

Kakashi grumbled grouchily, but nodded. He _was_ glad that Sakura relied upon him enough _to_ trust his advice about her mark. Her entire manner had been easier and more relaxed after they had talked this afternoon, and she had asked a few more questions while they worked through a new taijutsu form together. Kakashi’s words had clearly helped her settle it in her mind, whatever she chose in the future.

Gai ruffled his hair and Kakashi drew a deep breath, sighing, closing his eye again. Gai smelled familiar; like warmth and comfort and _pack_. He tipped his head and nuzzled his soulmate’s wrist, and Gai stretched out on the engawa beside him, just close enough to nudge up against him companionably.

Kakashi sighed contentedly. He hadn’t been ready when his mark revealed his soulmate’s name, no - and even as a child, Gai had never come up against any challenge he wasn’t ready for. At least, not that he would admit.

They had spent some years in chasing and evading, Kakashi conflicted and upset and stubbornly refusing even to consider what could be between them, Gai determined and hopeful and stubbornly refusing to give up on him.

Kakashi was glad, in the end. He had needed Gai - as Gai, he thought, rolling onto his side and smoothing a hand over Gai’s arm, needed him.

Gai made a curious sound, and Kakashi shook his head, propping his chin on Gai’s chest. It wasn’t the best pillow - Gai was all hard muscle, _everywhere_ \- but then Kakashi was aware he wasn’t the most comfortable either, all sharp, bony angles. They had both grown used to it, over the years.

“What do you advise _your_ students?” Kakashi asked curiously, because it had never come up before - though he was vaguely aware that Gai’s genin knew he was their sensei’s soulmate; not that he had really known them personally until many months after Gai had been assigned the little team, having been kept busy out of the village himself.

“Patience, much of the time.” Gai said, voice low. It rumbled through his chest and Kakashi shivered, settling closer. “All of them bear a mark, but it has yet to change.”

“Ah.” Kakashi had known, of course, that Lee’s was - most likely - still whatever image he had borne since it first bloomed on his wrist, but nothing about the others.

“I have assured them all that when it is time . . . they will bear a name.” Gai said, and shrugged, muscles flexing under Kakashi’s jaw. “Lee is eager to meet his soulmate, but he has . . . settled a little.” Gai coughed. “I admitted I was not the most thoughtful when I was younger, and advised he attempt to avoid my mistakes.”

Kakashi crooned, stroking his side soothingly, and Gai wound an arm around his shoulders, giving him an affectionate squeeze in return.

Gai cleared his throat. “Neji agrees that it will be as it is fated . . . but I believe he knows who his sunflower is; or he thinks he does.” Kakashi nodded, thoughtful. “Tenten says she hopes it is some time before she meets her soulmate, as she wishes to begin making her name first.”

Kakashi laughed, nodding.

“Your student?” Gai asked, and Kakashi hummed.

“She has a name.” Kakashi admitted, though he didn’t tell Gai whose. “She does not believe her soulmate yet has hers in return, however.”

“Ah!” Gai began to sit up, and Kakashi nudged at him, keeping him down. “She. . .”

“She isn’t ready.” Kakashi said, lifting his head and meeting Gai’s gaze. He smiled slightly. “I advised her to let it come when it does, and that there is nothing to pressure her to be ready on any schedule, simply because she already bears a name.” he admitted, and winced as Gai sniffled and hugged him tighter. “Gai!”

It took some while longer of being dripped upon by tears and squashed in his soulmate’s arms as vaguely unintelligible, effusive words rang in his ears before Gai eventually began to calm. “I always knew,” Gai said, rubbing Kakashi’s back, “that you would be a good sensei if you let yourself.”

“More than I did, then.” Kakashi said dryly, and Gai punched him lightly. Kakashi laughed, rolling away, and kicked out, just enough to knock Gai’s feet from under him as he rose. “I am glad of my little pup, though.” he admitted, rolling his shoulders. Something he never would have guessed, before they had settled into something of . . . well. Kakashi’s small pack was one small, pink pup larger, now.

He grinned and braced himself as Gai lunged, controlling their tumble off the engawa and into the brush of the garden below.

* * *

“Kakashi-sensei?”

“Mm?” Kakashi returned idly, shifting lazily against the tree behind him. A warm weight thumped down against his legs. He opened his eye, smiling slightly. Sakura wriggled and leaned back against him, head on his shoulder, and he stretched, winding his arm around her. She wasn’t much bigger than she had been when she had first become his apprentice, still tucking easily against his side, though she was a jounin in her own right, and had been for some years now.

“I’ve been thinking, you know. . .” Sakura said, tilting her head a little more and looking up at him without sitting up. “With Hanae getting older.” Kakashi smiled at the mention of his pup’s daughter, who was - he guessed, having only known her much later - very like Sakura would have been herself, when very small.

“What about the teacup pup?” Kakashi asked, rubbing his palm up and down Sakura’s arm.

“She’s started asking more about her mark.” Sakura said, running her fingertips over Kakashi’s wrist. He turned his hand over, letting her do as she wished, and made a prompting noise as Sakura traced his own hidden mark with a light touch. Hanae had a maelstrom shot through with lightning on her wrist; it was quite a striking mark. “It has reminded me of when I . . . fretted, when I was younger.”

Kakashi kissed her temple. “You have always been a very steady person.” he told her.

Sakura hummed, shifting a little, tucking her shoulder under his arm as she turned towards him. “You were the first person to tell me that a bond was not a demand, and that I didn’t have to be ready for it simply because I had a name - or even a mark.”

Kakashi made a disapproving sound, and Sakura laughed softly. “Thank you for that, sensei.” she said, and he squeezed her snugly. “It is what I want Hanae to grow up knowing. What _we_ want her to grow up knowing.” she corrected immediately. “A soulmate bond can be a beautiful thing, and I am all the better for my own, but. . .”

“It can.” Kakashi agreed when she remained silent for a time. “I have certainly been stronger - steadier - for mine.” he admitted. Gai had kept him _sane_ at times in their lives, and more even than pack - which he had lost, all too much, all too many times - Gai and their bond had been a steady point.

Sakura smiled up at him. “I just want my daughter to know - not only how wonderful it can be, but that it cannot be pressed upon her. When she gets older,” she added, laughing, “right now she mostly knows she has a pretty storm on her skin, and is beginning to grasp that it means something, that it _is_ someone, out there.”

“Well, she’s very young.” Kakashi nodded understanding. “You are making sure she grows up already sure of herself in this.”

Sakura nodded, then shifted, nudging against Kakashi’s side. “. . .Kakashi-sensei?”

“Yes, pup?” Kakashi asked patiently.

Sakura licked her lips. “If Hanae has questions - ones she doesn’t want to speak to me or Lee about. . .” She sat up a little, turning towards him. “If she’s ever afraid that we won’t listen or accept,” she paused; Kakashi had seen them both with their daughter and couldn’t imagine that fear ever coming to realisation, “or that we might expect her to have a bond like _ours_ , or be disappointed in her if she does not. . .”

“I’m sure that will not-”

“If she does.” Sakura said firmly, and Kakashi inclined his head in acceptance. “Will you speak with her? The way you did with me?” she asked, and Kakashi startled. “Please.”

Kakashi struggled for a moment, meeting his pup’s earnest eyes. She smiled at him faintly, and Kakashi huffed a laugh; she knew him very well, after all these years.

“If you think it would help.” Kakashi agreed finally, nodding. “If she comes to me.”

“It helped me very much.” Sakura said, moving in for a hug and letting herself lean on him, arms around his shoulders. “Thank you.”

“Of course, pup.” Kakashi said, returning the embrace. “You’re pack. All of you, not just you.” he added, rubbing his cheek against the top of her head for a moment. Sakura crooned in response, arms tightening around him, and Kakashi sighed, patting her back.

**Omake:**

Lee stretched, bending backwards slowly and letting his fingers splay out over the dirt before kicking up and balancing on his palms. He took a few ‘steps’ that way, careful of his balance. It was easy enough, but after he had spent two weeks recovering from a handful of injuries that had prevented him from training properly, he took it slow all the same. Fifty laps of the training field, he thought, should be a good start.

“Lee-kun?”

Lee tilted his head, looking around at Sakura with a grin. She smiled back, tilting her own head sideways as he did. “Sakura-chan! Hello!” Lee flipped lightly to his feet, then bowed to her. “It is good to see you.”

Sakura dipped her head politely in return. “Lee-kun. . .” She took a breath, and Lee opened his mouth, then closed it, thinking perhaps it would be more polite of him to wait.

“My name is Haruno Sakura.” Sakura said quietly.

Lee frowned. Of course it was, he had known Sakura for-

His breath caught as his wrist flared with an itchy heat under the bandages. His eyes widened and he stared at Sakura, then down at his wrist, jolting into motion and practically tearing at the bandages to get to his mark - an upraised, delicate fist with a strand of pearls and flowers wound around it and trailing down to the wrist.

It wasn’t there. Instead there was a light, bright green name. He swallowed, raising his gaze back to Sakura’s face.

She smiled tentatively. Lee’s heart was pounding. “Sa- Sakura.” he said, throat tight, leaving off the honorific for the first time. Sakura’s smile steadied and while Lee’s heart still pounded, the dizziness ebbed a little. “I am . . . very pleased . . . to hear your name.”

Sakura’s smile widened, brilliant and pretty, and Lee grinned back, feeling as though it was probably a little unsteady.

**Author's Note:**

> In this soulmate AU, as is hopefully clear in the text of the story, everyone at some point in their life (it may be at birth or at any time later, before they meet) develops a mark that represents their soulmate in some way - and when they hear their soulmate say their full name, the mark changes to their soulmate's name.


End file.
